Avidyne, L-3 settle patent dispute

April 2, 2013

ByJim Moore

Image of the actual settlement agreement from the federal court file.

A 2005 patent dispute over a primary flight display settled just as the case was about to go to trial in U.S. District Court, records show, with Avidyne Corp. and L-3 Avionics Systems agreeing to undisclosed terms.

L-3 filed suit in 2005, alleging that early versions of Avidyne’s EXP5000 primary flight display infringed on L-3 patents. Avidyne issued a press release in November, announcing a February trial date and calling the lawsuit “baseless.” A spokesman for L-3 declined comment at the time. Both the initial complaint and a related cross-complaint filed by Avidyne were dismissed in keeping with an agreement filed with the court March 5.

The court documents include reference to a confidentiality agreement that binds both companies, and precludes public disclosure of settlement terms. The technology at issue was a system for calibrating an attitude indicator, the invention of which preceded development of the L-3 SmartDeck integrated flight deck. The court had previously dismissed a claim by L-3 against profits made by Avidyne between 2005, when the lawsuit was filed, and 2008, when SmartDeck was brought to market.

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